The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) management reduced water discharge from the flood gates of Bhakra Dam on Thursday, in view of the decreased inflow of water in the dam.

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) management reduced water discharge from the flood gates of Bhakra Dam on Thursday, in view of the decreased inflow of water in the dam. In recent times, the BBMB had lifted (opened) five flood gates by Wednesday.

The flood gates of the Bhakra dam were lowered by two feet on Thursday to reduce the discharge from the three flood gates to 9,000 cusecs from Wednesday's release of 18,000 cusecs.

A cusec measures the flow rate and one cusec is equal to 28.37 litres of water flowing per second.

After Thursday's development, a total of 50,000 cusecs has been discharged from the dams, including 41,000 cusecs through turbines. A total of 27,500 cusecs water has also been released in the Sutlej downstream from the Nangal dam, while the remaining 22,500 cusecs was being released in canals originating from Nangal dam. The flow of water in Swan river, which merges in Sutlej near Anandpur Sahib has also reduced considerably to 600 cusecs on Thursday.

The decision to reduce the discharge was taken after meteorological department withdrew its forecast regarding heavy rain on August 14.The water level at the Bhakra dam was recorded at 1,665.88 feet with an inflow of 69.012 feet at 2 pm on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the agriculture fields of about one dozen villages near Anandur Sahib including Lodhipur, Burj, Hariwal, Ballowal, Nikkuwal and Chandpur Bela continues to be submerged in Sutlej waters, in spite of the reduction of water level in Sutlej.

Meanwhile, the BBMB authorities have also reduced the water discharge from the Pong dam to 43,000 cusecs from 48,200 cusecs on Wednesday.